22 Apr Dangers of Round-up
Why is Round-Up such a big deal?
Organic – Producing food without the use of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides
Conventional – Farming foods with chemical fertilizers, GMOs, pesticides, herbicides.
The debate between eating organically and conventionally is big. I started this article with the definitions of these words to make sure that we truly understand what organic means and what conventional means. While there are many chemicals that are used in conventional farming, I’m just going to be covering one. Round-Up. AKA glyphosate. AKA Monsanto’s creation and money-maker.
When you start shopping for healthy foods, you’ll get the question that pops in your head “is this organic or conventional?”
People are starting to realize that glyphosate isn’t as ‘safe’ as it’s made out to be by big agriculture companies. Some questions I get from my clients are “Why is Round-Up bad? What am I at risk for when I eat conventional foods sprayed with Round-Up?” I wanted to cover that for you today, so you can feel educated about your decision on eating better quality foods. Quality is everything.
First off, what is Round-Up? Round-Up is one of the most popular herbicides on the market. It’s helps stop the growth of weeds in food crops. It sounds like it’s helpful and much needed to grow food, but it’s not. I always love looking back at our ancestors and how they grew food. They didn’t use chemical-made herbicides and pesticides. Did you know that all food used to be organic? There was no such thing as organic versus conventional. It was simply organic.
Where Is Round-Up Used?
Round-Up is used a lot in staple crops like wheat, sugar, corn, soy, other produce, backyards in residential areas, etc. Most foods that are fed to animals have Round-Up on it, so our animals are ingesting it too. The saying is true – “We are what our animals eat.” A study tested fish that was exposed to Round-Up and between the fish that were exposed to Round-Up and the control group, there were many changes metabolically in the fish that were exposed. This isn’t natural.
Is It Safe?
Want the short answer? It’s NO.
It has been linked to many different diseases and it’s very toxic to our bodies and the environment. (Which is why you see people that spray Round-Up on farms wear a body suit) A study that was published in Entropy states that Round-Up inhibits an enzyme in humans called P450. Cytochrome P450 is used in our bodies to help metabolize toxic compounds, help synthesize hormones, and more. So, we need healthy function of this enzyme. The study showed that the interference with this enzyme actually disrupted the gut bacteria as well. (Remember, a healthy gut = healthy human. So making any type of bad disruptions within the gut is a bad thing and can lead to chronic diseases.)
Another study in Pesticide Biochemistry & Physiology showed that glyphosate induced hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells). Another study in the International Journal of Toxicology researched that it’s not just the active ingredient, glyphosate, in Round-Up that causes problems. It’s the synergy of all the active and inactive ingredients in Round-Up that causes toxic problems in the human body. It can cause oxidation in the body, which means that it causes free radicals in the body that can damage cells, DNA, etc. Which will ultimately lead to chronic diseases.
It has also been associated with neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons Disease. A study that was in the Journal of Toxicology reported that the exposure of Round-Up promoted oxidative stress, neural cell death, and glutamate increase. Extra glutamate has been shown to be toxic & ‘excite’ the neurons too much. This is commonly seen in patients that have Alzeheimer’s.
Round-Up can just mess with nutrient absorption in general. When I was in school, we covered about how Round-Up can block pathways that nutrients take to be used in the body. In a Europe Environmental Sciences Journal, there is a study that showed rats developed more tumors versus the control group. It also showed that the endocrine system (which controls our hormones) were disrupted. When our hormones are disrupted, we are asking for chronic diseases.
Another huge topic in the nutrition world that is linked to Round-Up is GMO’s – genetically modified organisms. GMO’s are made to become “Round-Up Ready”. This means that the crop is made of genetically modified seeds to grow and be resistant to Round-Up. Round-Up is then generously applied to these crops with so much more of it because the plants won’t be affected by use of massive amounts of Round-Up. More Round-Up = More Health Problems. Period. While there are many more studies that support the dangers of Round-Up, I’m sure you get the picture!
Buying Organic
When people ask me if buying organic is worth it, I always say YES! Your health is worth that extra dollar or two. You either pay now or pay later. If you are under a budget, you can always use the tip to buy things organic if you are eating the skin. If you aren’t eating the skin, like bananas, avocados, oranges, etc, then you can skip out on buying organic to save you a couple dollars. Don’t fall for the organic junk, even though those cookies aren’t dosed with pesticides, that doesn’t mean they are okay to eat.
Buy organic when you can, let’s kick Monsanto in the face by putting them out of business. It starts with US!
P.S. Soy + wheat are common in crops that are loaded with Round-Up, read about them!
